Travelogue: Headed to D.C. for the inauguration? Get ready to wait

Weekly travel rail, with a look at transit expectations in Washington for the inauguration, a look at more presidential libraries, offroading tips and more.

If you’re planning to go to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration festivities in January, be prepared to wait. Officials are expecting record turnouts on mass transit, and while they’re taking steps to accommodate the influx of visitors, they’re also taking steps to advice people to be patient. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said the city is expecting 3 million to 5 million people on Inauguration Day and that buses and the Metrorail system will be swamped. If you’re going, plan ahead and plan for plenty of extra time.

American Tourist

Looking to learn more about the presidents and travel at the same time? You might want to check out some presidential libraries. Here’s the fifth in American Tourist’s series on presidential libraries:

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum

Where: 200 S.E. 4th Street, Abilene, Kan.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. every day except Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

Travelers of U.S.-based DayJet and the Danish carrier Sterling Airlines are out of luck – both airlines recently went belly up. DayJet filed for bankruptcy and announced it was shutting down and not honoring nor refunding tickets already purchased. Low-cost carrier Sterling said the same thing.

Fun Fact

São Francisco de Assis Church in Belo Horizonte, Brazil has such out-of-the-ordinary architecture that the Catholic Church refused to consecrate it for a time. (Wikitravel.org)

Travel Tip

Planning to go offroading? Here are some tips from Wikitravel.org:

- Always wear a safety belt, even if driving at low speeds.
- Make it a habit to never brace yourself against a "roll bar" -- in the event you overturn, you could crush or lose fingers.
- Make sure your safety helmet has face protection. (Broken jaws are common.)
- Do not fight against the vehicle. Let the steering wheel slip through your fingers a bit and gently guide it the way you want.
- Never grip the steering wheel with your thumbs on the inside. Hitting a boulder or pothole at speed will cause the steering to turn fast and hard, resulting in a bruised, dislocated or broken thumb.